Występowanie zakażeń Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex u zwierząt. Część II. Zwierzęta towarzyszące

Tuberculosis is a chronic, infectious disease, that can affect humans as well as farm, wild and companion animals. Due to close and frequent contacts with humans, companion animals pose the greatest threat to the public health if infected with mycobacteria. Dogs and cats are the most generally owned pet animals. Although not highly sensitive to infection, new cases of tuberculosis in this group of animals are reported every year in Europe. The most common source of infection in pet animals are free-living animals that are reservoirs of tuberculosis. The clinical symptoms most often relate to emaciation and respiratory disorders. However, less common symptoms can also develop, such as diarrhea, vomiting and ulcerative skin wounds. Dogs and cats, can be effective vectors of pathogen transmission to other animal species, as well as to humans. Therefore, if disease is suspected, the animal should be tested to confirm or rule out infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex but intradermal tuberculin tests, effective in the diagnosis of many animal species, are useless for canines and felids. The current in vivo diagnostics is based mainly on the IFN-γ test, tissue biopsy and PCR.